Goal-handling apparatus



J. E. JONES.

COAL HANDLING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV- 22, 191'8. 1 57,456. Patented Nov. 2, 1920-.

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3 vwudoz @M J. E. JONES.

COAL HANDLING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 22. 1918.

Patented Nov. 2, 1920-.

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anoanto z 1. E. JONES.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 3- 1. E. JONES.

COAL HANDLING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV-22' I918.

Patented Nov. 2, 1920.

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J. E. JONES.

COAL HANDLING APPARATUS. Y 4 APPLICATION FILED NOV. 22. I9IB- v 1,357,456. Patented Nov. 2,1920. 3

6 SHEETS-SHEET 5- J. E. JONES. COAL HANDLING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 22, 1918.

1,357,456, Patented Nov. 2, 1920.

BSHEETS-SHEET 6- S M. uemtoz UNITED sr, res Parser oFrlcE.

JAMES nntwoon ionfiisi or swIrciiBAoK, wnsr VIRGINIA.

Specification of Letters Eatent.

; p coat- NDLING arrAML' JUS- Patented Nov. 2, 1920.

Applicationfilcd November 22, 1918. Serial No. 263,672.

ture whereby the coal may be eil'liciently and o ldjr removed from the coal time and deposited in mine cars from whence it is transported to the tipple.

in the peri ectingoi' this apparatus, one oi? the main objects resides in the provision oi. a structure whereby manual labor is reduced to a minimum and whereby actual SllOVt-Eliligfib}? the minor is to all intents and purposes, eliminated. This invention may therefore be stated as residing in the combination with a coal handling machine capable of gathering the broken down coal from the coal face and depositing it to the rear oi the machine, of a scoop and mechanism associated therewith whereby this scoop may readilyand easily attack the redeposited coal .0 convey it to a point of discharge, into the mine car. The object oi associating a Ima c'hine capable of gathering the coal from the coal face and redepositing it to the rear of the coal faceis to present conditions for the favorable opera tion 0'? the scoop.

A further object of the invention resides in means associated with the apparatus already described whereby the point t attack oi' the scoop may be altered or varied "to suit conditions.

in other words, the redeposited coal may be partially removed or all the coal may not be deposited at the point and it istherefore an object'oif this invention to provide a structure where by the scoop maybe rendered effective irrespective of the condition of the redeposited coal or o'l its location, all that is necessary being that suificient room he provided for the proper manipulation of the scoop itself.

The preferred embodiment of this invention is; shown in the accompanying sheets of drawings wherein similar characters of reference des1gnate corresponding parts and wherein; y

Figure 1 is a vertical section through a portlon ot a mine showing the apparatus in operation,

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a portion of a mine also showing the apparatus in its operative position,

ldig. 3 is a top plan view somewhat similar to that shown in Fig. 2 but on a considerably enlarged scale,

Fig. is a side elevation of one form of coal handling machine for gathering coal at the coal face and depositing it tothe;

rear of the face,

Fig. is a top plan view of the structure shown In I 1g. l,

l? 6 is a top plan view of the driving mechanism for the coal handling machine, Fig. 7 is a cross section taken on line 7 2 of Fig. 6,

Fig. 8 is anenlarged detail view ofthe brake mechanism associated with the differential drive of the rear axle of the structure 3 shown in Fig. 6, v I

Fig. 9 is a cross section taken on line 99 of Fig. 6, and

Fig. 10 is a section taken on line lO-ot Fig. 6.

in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 an entry has been shown and is designated by the reference numeral 1 and tracks 2 are shown in position upon which the mine cars 3 are moved back and forth. Branching off oi this entry at approximately right anglesthereto are a plurality of rooms l which are illustrated as being partiallywvorked, the coal being removed to continue the driving of'these rooms from the coal faces 5. It will be understood that this arrangement is what is known as room and pillar work but this particular layout of the mine is not essential to the operation of the invention.

There IS also shown a coal handling machine capable of gathering the blown down drag and haul lines being also associated with suitable reeling mechanism carried by the conveying machine to facilitate the back and forth movement of the lines' At the entrance to the room there is shown a runway 10 having an inclined portion 11 leading from the level of the floor to a level exceeding that of the mine cars At its upper end, this inclined portion .is connected with a substantially horizontal portion 12 having an opening 13 therein located directly over the cars themselves. At its extreme rear end, this runway carries an idler or sheave 14; in any suitable or de sirable manner over which the haul line 8 passes and then returns to the reeling mechanism by means of the line shown at 15. There is also shown an idler roller 16 located at the front end of the horizontal portion 12 of the runway which is of small enough diameter and also so located to permit the free passage of a scoop with its load of coal thereunder, it being understood that the diameter of the idler 14 is also sufficient so that the return strand 15 of the cable will not conflict with the loaded scoop.

From the description thus far given the operation is as follows:

After the coal has been blown down, the machine 6 is forced into the same and this broken coal is then conveyed rearwardly and deposited to the rear of the machine as illustrated in Fig. 1. During the time that this coal is being transferred, the reeling mechanism carried by the machine 6 is set in operation to move the scoop back and forth over the mine floor. Mechanism is also provided whereby the return movement of the scoop avoids the coal pile and then the movement toward the mine car may be directed so that the scoop will attack the coal pile. When this occurs, a quantity of the coal is confined by the scoop and slid forward by shortening of the haul line until it is forced up the inclined runway and close within reach of the opening 13. At this point, the coal is deposited in the car by passage through the opening and the scoop is then returned to a new starting position. The arrangement of rollers 14.- and 16 is such that the drag line 15 does not interfere with the movement of the scoop in any manner.

The gathering machine itself comprises a conveyer pan 17 having an inclined forward portion 18 and horizontal forward portion 19. The rear end extends a considerable distance over the rear of the supporting truck designated generally by the reference numeral 20 so that coal may be deposited at this point without conflicting in any manner with the operation of the scoop. The conveyer itself consists of a chain passing over tail sprockets 21 and a head sprocket 22 which chain is confined Within the guideways 23. The chain itself is provided with a plurality of outwardly extending flights 24: designed to convey the material up one side or the other of the conveyer pan. It will be noted that this conveyer structure,is provided with a comparatively wide nose and a narrow rear end and this is made so for the reason that the conveyer as a whole is mounted upon a truck capable of movement about the mine. In other words, the present type of machine is designed to be dumped directly into the coal pile and to in.

this manner attack the coal rather than by a sweeping movement back and forth across the mine room. However, the specific type of machine illustrated is not intended as a limitation as obviously, any type of machine capable of attacking the coal and conveying it rearwardly will suffice. hlotor (3 drives the conveyer chain through the gearing shown in F 5. A motor 25 is mounted upon the conveyer truck frame and it is from this motor that the conveyor truck is driven and from which the machine derives its power to perform the various other funcions to be described. The armature shaft of this motor carries a gear 25 which meshes with a pinion 25- mounted upon a shaft 26 which shaft drives the ordinary type of differential gearing carried by the rear axle 27 which gearing is confined within the casing 28. This rear axle also rigidly carries a pair of driving sprockets 29 over which the endless track 30 passes. At its forward end, this endless track passes over the sprocket 31 mounted. upon the front axle 32, both axles being also suitably mounted within the truck frame work 20. Idlers are provided to insure firm contact of the endless track or caterpillar tread with the mine floor. Thus, when the motor is turning in one direction, the machine as a whole is driven into the coal pile by means of a driving connection with the rear axle. Thi rear axle is also provided with a pair of brake drums 34 which cooperate with the brake bands 35, the ends of these brake bands are connected as is illustrated at 36 in Fig. 8 which also shows the operative con nection of the rods 37 and 3S therewith. These rods 37 and 38 connect at their opposite ends to a lever 39 mounted upon the shafts 4:0 and 41 respectively. These latter shafts each carry operating levers 42 at their outer ends, the arrangement being such as indicated in Figs. 4 and 6. Thus, there has been employed the ordinary type of brake mechanism to operate in conjunction with the differential gearing to cause the machine to turn to various positions in attacking the broken down coal or to permit it to round corners when moving from one room to another. To obtain reverse movement it will be understood that the motor itself may be reversed.

The rear end of the bed plate 43 forming a portion of the truck 20 carries a pair of drums 514 which drums are comprised in the reeling mechanism already mentioned and it is about these drums that the lines 9 and 15 are caused to be wound and unwound. In order to accomplish this from the motor 25, I have provided a shaft 26 with a clutch member as whichis keyed thereto and slidable thereon and which is designed to engage the complementally formed clutch face on the sprocket 46 loosely mounted onthis shaft. This sprocket 46 alines with a sprocket 47 on shaft 4C8 and drives the latterby means of a chain 49 passing thereover. At its forward end, this shaft 48 carries a gear 50 designed to mesh with a complemental gear 51 mounted upon the shaft 52, the latter being suitably journaled on the under side of the bed plate 4:3. At its forward end, this shaft '52 carries a bevel pinion 53 designed to mesh with bevel gear 54 carried upon the shaft 55 this latter also carries a spur pinion 56 meshing with the spur gear 57 carried by the shaft 58 upon which one of the drums 44 is mounted. The other drum it is mounted upon the shaft 59 and this shaft also carries the spur gear 60 which meshes with the spur pinion 61 carried by the vertical shaft 62, this latter pin upon the other. These drums may be set in operation by operating the clutch member 45 which latter is operated by the hand lever 63 pivoted intermediate their ends as shown at 64.

In order to govern the return movement of the scoop, it has been found necessary to return it in such manner that it will not ride over the coal pile which it has previously attacked. To this end the main bed plate is provided with a shiftable arm 65 mounted to slide crosswise therein by means of the type of sliding connection shown at 66. This sliding connection also carries a rack face 67 at its forward side to cotiperate with a pinion 68 located on vertically disposed shaft 69 suitably journaled in connection with the bed plate as shown. On its opposite ends, this shiftable arm 65 is provided with spools shown at 70 as rotatably mounted in an upright position and reference to Figs. 2 and 3 will indicate that the return line or drag line 9 passes over one of these spools before engaging the winding drum 44 shown'at the bottom of Fig. 6. By shifting the arm 65 by rotation of the pinion 68 to any one of the dotted line positions shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the return'movement of a scoop may be governed to avoid the redeosited coal. Immediately after the scoop as returned to the rear of a coal pile, this arm may again be shifted to drag the scoop to a position in back of a coal pile so that its movement toward the mine car will cause it to attack the coal pile as will be readily apparent. When the arm 65 is shifted to the extreme right as shown in Fig. 3, the line 9 would ordinarily conflict with the drum 44: to which the line 15 is connected and to avoid this, I have suitably mounted a pair of idler sheaves 71 and 7 2 to properly give the line 9 in connection with its drum 44:.

In order to transmit power to the arm 65 to cause its shifting, the shaft 69 is provided with a beveled gear 73 and this beveled gear meshes with a complemental pinion 74 mounted upon the shaft 75 suitably journaled from the under side of the bed plate 43. At its opposite end, this shaft 75 carries a sprocket wheel 76 over which the chain 77 passes to engage the sprocket wheel 78 loosely mounted upon the main drive shaft 26. This latter sprocket is provided with a jaw clutch face designed to coiiperate with the jaw clutch member '79 slidably keyed to the shaft 26 and operated by means of the levers 80 pivoted intermediate their ends as shown at 81. Thus, when the jaw clutch member is thrown into engagement with the sprocket 78, by operation of one of the lovers 80 the arm 65 is shifted inone direction and by reversing the motor this arm is shifted in the opposite direction.

During the shifting of this arm, the entire machine is preferably standing still and in order to permit this and at the same time permit the motor to operate, the shaft 26 is provided with a further jaw clutch member 26 rigidly mounted thereto. This shaft 26 1s split at this point and its continuation 26 leading to the differential gears is provided wlth a complemental clutch member 82 slidably keyed thereto and operated by means of the levers 83 pivotally mounted intermediate their ends as shown at 84: whereby two aw clutch members may be thrown into engagement with each other to facilitate the forward movement of the machine as a whole.

Likewise, should it be desired to turn a cormay be shifted to alter its point of attack by means of the brake drums and these same brake drums may be utilized in rounding a corner. Further, the same motor which effects the driving may be utilized to shift the arm 65 to any desired position to govern the forward and return movements of the scoop.

It has often been found desirable to operate one drum to the exclusion of the other or to permit both to run idle such as when increasing the length of the cable or when making the various shifts ordinarily required during the mining operation. To this end, the drums 44; have been loosely mounted upon their shafts 58 and 59 and are caused to come into working engagement therewith by means of. the clutch structure shown in Fig. 8. In this figure, the drums are shown as being formed with-a conical concavity centrally arranged in which the cone member operates. It is these cones, forming a portion of the drum structures which carry the gears 57 and 60. The shafts 58 and are also provided with threads 86 at their upper ends upon which collars ST complementally threaded are caused to operate. These collars are each provided with an annular channel to rotatably receive the drums proper M by means of a structure shown at S8. The extreme upper ends of each of the shafts 5S and 5.) are rigidly connected to operating lovers 89, these latter be ing in turn connected to operating rods 90 slidably mounted upon the structure as a whole. As shown in Fig. 6, the operating rod 90 is operatively connected with the lever 89 operating in conjunction with the shaft 58 while the other rod is shown as op erating in connection with the lever mounted upon the shaft Thus, when one of these rods is moving in one direction, the major portion of its drum let is elevated slightly and thereby released from trictional engagement with its corresponding cone portion. 82 to run idle of its respective drive gear. In a similar manner, both drums may be caused to run idle or both may be positively driven as desired.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection. with the accompanying sheets of drawings, it will. be apparent that I have provided an apparatus which may be used to marked advantage in the removal. of coal from the coal face. The conveyer structure is utilized to remove the coal from the coal face and deposit it in such position that it may be readily attacked by the scoop structure. The controller mechanism for the scoop is also so arranged that the scoop itself may he forced directly into the coal pile when traveling in one direction and may be made to avoid the coal pile when returning in the opposite direction. By thi s arrangement, the

conveying mechanism may e maintained. in operation independently of the operation of the scoop and therefore a sufficient quantity of coal may always be in position to be attacked by the scoop. By skilful operation. the redeposited coal pile may always be of such quantity that it will never be depleted during the interval required for the shifting of the conveying machine from one position to another to properly clean out the blown down coal.

hat I claim is:

1. In a mining apparatus, the combination with a coal. handling machine comprising means for conveying the broken down coal from the coal face to a point in the rca r of the coal face, of a scoop, drag and haul lines for said scoop, reeling mechanism for pulling s scoop into or out of a gallery, and means permitting manipulation of said. lines so that said scoop returns to the rear of the redeposited coal by passing to one side thereof and then goes in the opposite direction to attack said re ;leposited coal.

2. In a mining apparatus, the combination with a coal handling machine comprising means for conveying the broken down coal from the coal face to a point in the rear of the coal face, of a scoop, drag and haul lines for said scoop, reeling mecha nism for pulling said scoop into or out of a gallery, and means carried by said machine permitting manipulation of said lines so that said scoop returns to the rear of the redeposited coal by passing to one side thereof and then goes in the opposite direction to attack said redeposited coal.

8. In a mining apparatus, the combina tion with a coal handling machine comprising means for conveying the broken down coal from the-coal face to a point in the rear of the coal face, of a scoop, drag and haul lines for said scoop, reeling mechanism for pulling said scoop into or out of a gallery, a shiftahle arm carried by said machine. rope guide means carried by said arm and with which said drag line cooperates, and means for shifting said arm to variant positions with respect to said machine.

4. In mining apparatus, the combination with a portable loading machine capa ble of collecting the coal at the coal face and depositing it on the floor in the rear of the machine, of a scoop, drag and haul lines for said scoop, reeling mechanism carried by said machine. and means permitting manipulation of said lines so that said scoop returns to the rear of the redeposited coal by passing to one side thereof and then goes in the opposite direction to attack said redeposited coal.

5. In a mining apparatus. a coal handling machine comprising a mobile truck, conveyer mechanism mounted on. said truck to gather the coal at its front, convey it rearwardly, and. deposit it to its rear, cable guiding means carried by said machine, means for shifting said guiding means to variant positions, in combination with a scoop, drag and haul lines connected to said scoop, and'reeling mechanism for said lines.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

JAMES ELLWOOD JONES. 

